Paint and stain manufacturers typically distribute premixed paints and stains in a small number of popular colors. To accommodate consumer desires and enable matching of existing painted or stained surfaces, paint and stain manufacturers typically also distribute a set of tintable base paints or stains and several concentrated colorants. These are combined in point-of-sale outlets using color dispensing and shaker equipment to make small batch lots of custom-tinted paint or stain in a much larger array of colors than the limited colors available in premixed products.
Owing in part to industry custom and the available colorant dispensing equipment, the custom color systems from different paint or stain manufacturers tend to have somewhat similar components. For example, base paints or stains may employ various binders (e.g., natural or synthetic resins), binder forms (e.g., solution polymers or latex polymers) and vehicles (e.g., solvent-base or waterborne versions), and may provide various dried surface finishes. Some manufacturers also sell colored base paints (e.g. a red, a blue and yellow colored base) which are intended to be combined with additional colorant(s) when one coat hiding power is desired for strongly-tinted custom paint shades.